Alone Together
by Shrrg
Summary: Demons are beautiful creatures; it just takes the right person to acknowledge that beauty. A detailed account of the story of Yuri Egin, from her fledgling days as an Exorcist to the consequences of her love for the King of Gehenna.
1. Points of Authority

Chapter 1: Points of Authority

_Being a flame must be lonely._

The embers devouring the contained wood before her spat sparks that spewed just short of her knees, as if to deny such a revelation. Yet such an act of indignation wasn't enough to convince her otherwise. Even now, the fire burned, and it burned vibrantly...but at the expense of another. It could not exist here without destroying a pile of wood, or a heap of grasses. Anything the flame touched was destined to wither and be reduced to ashes. It seemed almost as if fire didn't belong in the same dimension as anything else, like its origins rested in a place that was always pulling it back home. For flame could never stay; once the material entity which had sustained it is exhausted, it must depart. It could only remain in their realm as long as something else was there to suffer for it.

Yuri watched as the microcosmic inferno consumed more of its fuel, then bent her head back to observe the sparks whirling into the cold night sky, as if they were the souls of the wood being sacrificed for the sake of the fire's presence. She had understood from a young age that people tended to fear things they did not understand_, _and that the first step towards mutual trust was always the most difficult to accomplish. Though this issue had been somewhat abated due to the advancements of science, she was well aware of a time where fire represented death and destruction; it symbolized the loss of life and the blackening of the future. Yet what Yuri had come to realize was that much of the pain and suffering from fire had been provoked by humanity itself. Reckless thinking was what always led to misunderstanding.

The flame just wanted a friend, that was all.

Why else would it always choose to come back?

"You and I...we're a lot alike, you know..." The young woman murmured to the embers, as if they were capable of responding to her. "Alone because we're different..."

Meanwhile, a freezing wind blew through the camp, carrying the stinging bite of the winter frost with it. The fire shrunk under its malice as Yuri shivered and drew her coat tighter around herself, tucking her legs just a bit closer to preserve what little warmth she could.

"Feeling chilly?"

Glancing upwards, she saw her mentor standing a few steps behind her in the thin layer of snow. He was smiling at her, the way he always did, in a manner that had always made her feel a little less displaced from the rest of the world.

"Yes. Very," Yuri sighed as she forced herself to get her feet under her and stand up, no matter how much her stiff muscles argued otherwise. It was important to keep her blood moving. "Are we moving camp yet?"

"In a bit," Fujimoto Shiro said back as he readjusted the strap of his shotgun over his shoulder. He had a cigarette clamped between his incisors, the tip glowing a weak red as a trail of smoke reached up to mix with the fog clouding his glasses. "Remember to behave on this mission, Yuri. The Vatican has made it clear that this is your last chance. Another act of interference and you could become expelled from the Order."

The young woman clicked her tongue and crossed her arms in a stubborn manner, averting her eyes. "I know that! You don't need to tell me again. It's just that..." The fledgling exorcist let the bad air out of her lungs before deigning to finish her sentence, watching the crystalized water billow across the snow. "It's just that I don't agree with how they do things."

Shiro frowned, his brow furrowing. He took a last draw out of the cigarette before crushing it under his foot into the snow and lighting another one. "We're exorcists. We kill demons. You've known that from day one, Yuri. Why are you going against it now?"

The pupil shook her head and turned away, squatting so that she could begin putting out the fire. "At first, I thought that all demons only knew evil and how to do evil things. They destroyed my home, after all, and hurt my family..." She paused to kick snow over what was left of the smoldering coals. "But if you really think about it, what if they're more like us than we think? Maybe they're just curious. Maybe they want to know more about us. Maybe they just want to be friends!"

She was astonished to hear harsh laughter behind her. Twisting around, she saw her mentor clutching his stomach and chuckling.

Clenching her fists in irritation, Yuri waited for Shiro was calm himself down before saying curtly, "What's so funny?"

"You," The senior exorcist began, shaking his head and still grinning to himself, "Really do say the strangest things, Egin."

Yuri didn't say anything, simply choosing to stare daggers are her teacher as the wind picked up again, this time bringing a flurry of snowflakes with it. Shiro looked up to observe the worsening weather and frowned at the darkening clouds above. They were currently stationed deep within the uninhabited regions of north eastern Canada, having used a Key to bring the entire squad to the desired location. Their initial objective had been to pinpoint a wild Fox Demon that had been causing chaos at some of the nearby villages, but upon their arrival it was nowhere to be found. And so a number of days were spent tracking down the beast, and the team's Tamers had finally determined the position of their target.

Normally, a Lower First Class exorcist like herself wouldn't have a place in a mission as dangerous as this one; she wasn't a Knight or a Tamer, and her skills as an Aria weren't nearly developed enough to take on a Fox Demon. However, special circumstances had called for the Vatican to make an exception. Behave well and facilitate the success of the mission, they had decreed, and she would avoid being expelled from the Order.

Essentially, she was on probation.

Shiro, however, liked to call it "purgatory", a joke that irritated her to no end, but Yuri felt like she had to allow at least that much. After all, it was her fault that her mentor was forced to accompany her all the way to Canada because of her own carelessness. She was well aware that Shiro had much better things to do than babysit his students whenever they slipped up, but he never openly criticized her for it, something she was very thankful for. She didn't take criticism too well.

Especially when she felt like she wasn't entirely in the wrong.

The reason for Yuri being on probation had come off as absurd to some of her peers: punishment for interfering with exorcisms and protecting demons. An idea that wouldn't even begin to qualify as valid in the minds of the vast majority of those in the Order. Her many "offenses" included distracting a group of Arias who were reciting the necessary verses to destroy a massive forest boar by throwing her holy water grenades at them. During the subsequent court hearing, her argument had been that deforestation in the area had been what angered the boar spirit, and that a complete exorcism was both unnecessary and excessive. The Grigori would have none of it, however, and the issue was added onto a list of many others where her actions had been deemed "an undermining of the Vatican's ideals and the objectives of the Order." Really, it was Shiro's influence as her teacher and an Arc Knight that had kept her from being thrown into Gehenna's gate already.

_That old man sure is cold and unfeeling, but he can be a really nice guy sometimes,_ Yuri thought with a slight smile.

"Eh?" Came her mentor's voice then, shattering the realm of thought she had immersed herself in. "What's that smile for? Did something good happen?"

Blushing, Yuri bared her teeth and snapped back, "It's none of your business, okay?"

Shiro snorted at his pupil's unreasonableness and hefted his shotgun again before turning away from her. "So be it. Get ready to leave within thirty minutes. If we're going to catch this bastard of a fox, we're gonna have to move quick."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuri muttered as she began picking up her belongings which had been laid out across the snow during her stay.

"And Yuri," Her teacher called out.

She stood and stared back at him.

The old man dropped his cigarette butt onto the snow and smothered it beneath his heel.

"Don't screw up."

* * *

The soles of Yuri's hiking boots crunched onto the brittle surface of the icy ground. The night before had been brutally cold, so much so that some of the exorcists had been prompted to set up heat barriers around the camp to prevent anyone from contracting frostbite. It was nearing the peak of winter, and the winds, she knew, would show no mercy. There had been a few times during this mission when Yuri had felt like the punishing cold was a form of discipline in its own right.

Slowing her pace for a moment to allow her aching heels to rest, the fledgling exorcist stared at the trail sprawling out before them. The last night's frost had frozen what little moisture the earth contained, giving the ground a glossy look. Evergreens grew around the path, trunks poking out from the thin covering of sleet to spread their cones to the gray, bleak heavens above. The entire atmosphere just felt isolated, like they had been removed from the rest of existence simply by stepping within the confines of the forest.

"What are you slowing down for? You're on purgatory, remember?" Quipped a voice.

Turning, Yuri, saw Shura Kirigakure trotting past her, a small backpack slung over her shoulder. The somewhat older woman was clad in a startling lack of clothing, considering the extreme temperatures of the region, though the knight meister had never been one to dress conservatively. A tan colored parka with fur trimming along the neckline was thrown over a thin tank top that exposed the woman's midriff, along with the tattoo which resided there. The flame-like dyes in her hair stood out in surprising contrast to the blindingly white snow, Yuri noted, and she briefly wondered if sticking Shura's head into the snow would melt it.

"Says the drunk who's plodding in the back?" Yuri shot back coldly, her voice more frigid than the ice coating the branches nearby.

The insult was not, however, enough to sting the higher exorcist to prompt any action. After all, Yuri's voice still held that childish tinge that hindered any attempt to sound serious. "Somebody has to keep an eye on you, Egin, before you ruin somebody else's day."

Yuri bristled at the jibe and clenched her fists, coming to a full stop and hissing, "Come again?"

Shura snorted at the younger woman's obvious indignation and said, "You've left behind nothing but interference in any mission you've been assigned to. Don't even try to deny it; I've seen your track record. Everything ends with you letting another demon get away or at least refusing to be of any use. Honestly, I have no idea why Shiro insists on dragging you around after all this time. You're nothing but a dead weight to him."

Yuri, stunned into shock by the harshness of the older woman's words, said nothing as Shura trudged past her up the hill before turning back to her. "Do you really expect me to leave someone like that unchecked?" The serpent wielder continued. "This is a warning to you, Egin; don't screw up today like you always do. Shiro and the Grigori might not take any disciplinary action towards you, but _I will._"

Yuri began muttering curses at Shura's back once they had both resumed walking, this time allowing the flame headed exorcist to walk in front of her. She even threw in some Fatal Verses, just in case the older woman actually was the demon she acted like. Some may have been astonished at her level of scathing loathe for Shiro's oldest apprentice, but Yuri could find nothing but justification for disliking her. She was arrogant, a slacker, self centered, prone to jealously, and unreasonably fixated on the most meaningless things. She could say with absolute certainty that cleaving Shura's head open and searching for anything worth emulating would be a useless endeavor. Though she would be willing to try, just for the head-cleaving part.

No, she and Kirigakure had never gotten along very well.

To be quite frank, Yuri couldn't exactly pinpoint a reason why she had such a fierce aversion to the Knight. There was no single act of offense or previous history; rather, the walls between them had built up gradually over time, the building blocks being the little things. Shura had treated her like a useless underling since the day they had met, despite her own initial efforts to befriend the stronger exorcist. Even their mutual teacher had been perplexed at his student's refusal to associate with Yuri, and after a while even he gave up on trying to change that. Some things were best left untampered with, he had said in a sage like manner. But Yuri had known it was just an excuse to remove himself from any potential conflict.

Now, after years of being forced to deal with Shura's unjustified malice due to their shared teacher, Yuri had simply decided to return the favor with equal relish, if not more. She was just jealous, Yuri knew. After all, many of the lower monks at the Vatican joked about how ridiculously devoted to Mr. Fujimoto the blade wielder was. And while she and Shura would never meet eye to eye, Yuri at least understood that people would try to hoard what they could, especially if scarcity has become the norm.

She didn't know the details of Shura's past, nor did she care to uncover them, but it was also true that self indulgence could drive excess.

_How un-Christian of her,_ Yuri thought darkly as her eyes bored into the older woman's tan colored parka. Considering that the existence of demons, Satan, and a form of Hell in Gehenna was confirmed, most exorcists tended to accept the existence of Heaven and its God as well. However, there were also those that only believed that there were only the demons and Assiah, and Shura was one of those people.

Yuri was too, actually.

She detected movement out of the corner of her eye and ground to a halt, raising her head to see the raised fist Fujimoto had in the air. A signal for the formation to stop. Yuri quickened her pace until she had caught up with the middle of the pack, which had by then gathered up in a tight cluster behind the Arc Knight. They had ceased just a few dozen yards from the peak of the hill they had been climbing. The trail had hit a steep incline about half an hour earlier, and they had been scaling it all this time.

Reaching out an tugging at the sleeve of one of the exorcists nearby, Yuri asked, "Why are we stopping?"

The older man pursed his lips. "I think Fujimoto can sense it. He's trying to find out just where it's hiding."

Just then, Shiro turned his head not five degrees to his left, lips moving quietly. "Takanashi."

"Yes, Teacher?" A man standing just behind him murmured back.

"We'll be proceeding onwards from here. But it is very close; tell the formation to tread softly and quietly."

"Yes, Teacher."

The message was relayed in hushed tones throughout the members of the pack, and once it reached Yuri she pulled her thick scarf up over her chin to muffle herself. It was then that she noticed how utterly silent it had become. It had been impossible to detect due to her own crunching footsteps and her preoccupation with Shura, but now it was frighteningly obvious that the entire mountain had gone dead silent. The morning birds seemed to have fled, the wind was taking refuge above the clouds, and the snow pressed itself flat to the ground.

As if in fear.

Finally, Shiro bent his fingers and indicated for the group to proceed. All fifteen-odd of them began slinking forward as discreetly as they could, their attempts at silence making every squeak against the ice louder than a gunshot. Speaking of gunshots, Yuri remembered that there were no Dragoons among them; the formation consisted entirely of Knights and Tamers, along with the occasional doctor. The cacophony caused by a Dragoon's weapons would be enough to cause an avalanche in these areas, not to mention draw human attention that they didn't need. Silencers may have been an option, but if any stray bullets were to strike the frozen trunks nearby the resulting explosion would be louder than any amount of anti-demon gunpowder. Not many people knew it, but frozen trees could implode.

Thus, no firearms today. The Knights worked best in close combat situations, and the Tamers would need time to summon and instruct their familiars. No wonder they were moving so quietly. They would have only one chance at this.

_Don't screw up._

_Shut up, _Yuri told the Shiro within her brain.

They had reached the crest of the hill by the time Fujimoto held up his fist a second time. Yuri stopped and squatted low, trying to stabilize herself on the uneven surface. Her fingers trailed along the ice and brushed against something hard and metallic; looking down, she saw what looked like a hooked stone poking out of the ground. It was about a foot long and unnaturally sharp, like someone had intentionally refined it before abandoning the object. Intrigued, Yuri probed the stone further and ran her thumb along the serrated edge.

That was when it occurred to her.

_Fox claw._

"Run!" Yuri tried to scream, but the earth beneath them erupted in outrage before she could, the sudden uproar tearing the words from her throat. The entire squad was swept off its feet and sent tumbling down the side of the hill as the Fox Demon savaged its way out of the ice which had encased it, snarling and screeching like a rabid animal. Yuri herself was tossed further than anyone else, due to her slight frame, her body impacting with the newly fallen snow a third of the way down the slope, roughly a hundred yards from the peak. She grunted in minor pain when her shoulder took the brunt of the damage, dimly thanking her magical wards for keeping her from snapping her neck.

Meanwhile, the Fox Demon's pure white fur stood straight up along its spine as the monster peeled back its gums and roared at the minuscule humans getting back on their feet, tongue stained with the black blood which seeped continuously from its saliva glands; trademark trait for many demons. The unstoppered flow of black blood forced the fox to gurgle and hack every several seconds, spewing the poisonous stuff everywhere. It choked up another glob of blood before turning and attempting to leap off the hill and into the safety of the woods beyond.

Only to be stopped by a shotgun pellet to the chest.

The fox squealed and stumbled, its bleeding paws slipping on the black-stained snow until its massive body tipped over and thudded to the ground. It really was disproportionate; about the size of a small house.

Yuri's ears cringed at the keens of pain emanating from the demon's throat as she saw Shiro pull his way back up the hill, reloading his shotgun as he went. The other exorcists were beginning to advance towards the peak as well, prompting her to stumble to her feet and run after her comrades. She didn't know what exactly she would do to contribute...but first she had to get there.

The fox groaned and tried to get its legs under its belly, but was thwarted when another pellet was blasted into its knees, the bullet fragments splintering the demonic bone underneath and unleashing another scream from the fox's throat. More blood gushed in rivulets from the glands in its tongue, a sign of desperation, as the animal kicked and thrashed atop the now blood-streaked hilltop as more exorcists came close enough to summon their familiars and maul the already downed demon. Behind the carnage, the sun was beginning to rise above the evergreen treetops, illuminating the rather sickening sight of a massive fox engaged in its death throes as the men relentlessly assaulted it.

The full extent of this was largely hidden from Yuri's view as she pulled herself back up the hill as quickly as she could, though her ears continued to recoil at the hideous screams coming from above her. Just what were they doing to it? She had to know. She had to _see._ Everyone had always told her that her curiosity would be the death of many, but she still wanted, no, _needed_ to-

Yuri coughed and reached the hilltop just in time to see Shura tear open the fox's belly.

It happened at the speed of a dissection. She watched in horror as the woman's serpentine blade sang its fangs beneath the fox's skin and rent it open from the inside, the cut so clean and sickeningly efficient that it looked like the opening of a zipper, the fur on either side of the blade parting like it had been made to do so, rather than to hold back the steaming intestines which were no spilling out of the opening, along with something...impossible.

Yuri's fingers were turning blue from being dug so deeply into the snow, but she hardly even noticed, too busy keeping her brain's screams from escaping outwards where everyone else could hear them. But she couldn't help it; no one could treat an animal like this...it was wrong, it was sick, it was _evil._ As she began to feel her heartrate race out of control, she made one cursory moment of eye contact with the fox, now reduced to feeble twitching as its lifeblood seeped back into the depths of Gehenna. There was no malice within those irises. There was no harmful intent.

Just pain.

She turned and retched into the snow as the fox's body began to steam up and disintegrate, its demonic host having departed. Even some of the more practiced exorcists narrowed their eyes and turned away from the unseemly sight, and a small look of guilt shadowed even Shura's face.

The only one who exhibited no signs of remorse was the man still standing atop the crest of the slope, shotgun held firmly in both hands as its owner took steady aim at the small fox fetus which had slithered out of its mother's belly.

Yuri saw it just for a moment before the bullets descended. It looked like a miniature version of its mother, wolf-life with white spiky fur, matted and slicked back by the bodily fluids it had been suspended in. Its stomach was still linked with its nutrition source, a fleshy sac which lay pulsating beside the baby's prone form, having been cut out with it. To her, it wasn't demonic at all.

It felt human.

But then the shotgun pellets met their mark, driving into the baby's skull with unforgiving precision, and it was followed by more, and then more, as Shiro yanked on the trigger again and again and again and _again AND AGAIN-_

What felt like the dozenth pellet instead struck the ice beside the now dead fox as the barrel of the shotgun was knocked aside. Startled, Shiro looked down to find Yuri struggling to wrestle the weapon from his grip.

She had been absolutely wrong about there being no firearms.

"Stop it!" Yuri sobbed as the old man gritted his teeth and tried to shake his pupil off. "Stop shooting! The baby didn't do anything wrong! Why are you killing it?"

The Arc Knight finally gained enough leverage to reclaim possession of his weapon, pushing Yuri down into the snow in the process. Blinking away the shock, she looked up just to see Fujimoto's snarling face above her head, looking more angry than the fox he had just killed.

"We. Are. _Exorcists,_" He yelled. "Killing demons is what we _do._"

Gritting her teeth, Yuri forced herself to sit up and rub at the back of her head. It was then that she realized everyone in the formation was staring at them. They had formed a rough circle around the hilltop, and every last one of them was staring at her with looks of utter confusion and honest annoyance.

She felt the oppression around her, and it was terrifying. Did not of these people see what she saw? Did they not understand the inhumanity of what had just taken place? Surely, _surely_ she wasn't the only one who had been sickened by the sight of an innocent baby being slain without justification...

No. It was no good. There would be no understanding, here within the ragged circle of those who recognized her as an outlier and thus deemed her unnecessary. People would always side with those that agreed with them, and since there was no one who believed what she believed, there would be no mutual understanding.

Just persecution.

She couldn't stay here. She had to go. Leave before the judgmental stares around her crushed her soul and spirit. Smearing the tears away from her eyes, Yuri stumbled to her feet and broke through the circle of exorcists, fleeing down the hill and into the swath of evergreens below, ignoring the cries behind her that demanded she return.

After all, she was not fire.

* * *

**Alright, I hope this is a good first chapter for this story. The plot will largely be a very detailed account of Yuri's earlier days as an exorcist and the events which together trigger her pregnancy through Satan. If you have any thoughts or comments, please leave them in the reviews!**

**~Shrrg**


	2. Match Made In Hell

**Before you read any further, please keep in mind that everything written here is based almost entirely on the anime alone and for the large part totally ignores anything that has and will happen in the manga.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Match Made in Hell

The feathered limbs of the evergreens nearby reached down and lashed and Yuri's face as she ran, without regard for where she was going or what she would do once she did. It seemed like the trees themselves were leaning over as she streaked past to rebuke her with their painful branches and nettles, as if to say _Shame on you. Shame on you._

Yuri dimly realized that she must be heading away from back of the hill where the Fox Demon had been brutalized, as her feet struck a rather steep incline and she was forced to pull her weight backwards, lest she tumble down into the unknown below. Behind her, harsh barking and hurried commands snapped at her ears, and Yuri knew that the rest of the squad was pursuing her. This just prompted her to run faster, further, to put as much distance as possible between her and the figurative dogs running her down. Shiro's furious voice cut through all of the others in particular to her, striking a few chords of fear in her heart, both too ashamed and reluctant to stop and face her teacher's inevitable wrath.

Her thought of escaping retribution were abruptly cut off when her toes crunched into the back of a tree root, hidden under the new layer of snow which had formed in recent hours. As she fell and tumbled down the remaining portion of the slope, Yuri, saw the unearthed evergreen which was laying on its side, having been knocked down by some force, and cursed it. Her body eventually lost its momentum and Yuri slid to a shivering halt, thankful that nothing else had been there to block her fall; that would have hurt.

Deciding to take a moment to let her new bruises stop stinging, Yuri laid on her back and stared up at the gray sky. She could still hear the exorcists stumbling down the slope after her, but the their voices had somewhat faded, telling her that she had managed to put some amount of distance between them. Breathing heavily, the fledgling exorcist stared at the bland bowl above her and noted that it had begun to snow again. No wonder that tree root had been hidden from her vision. Letting out a billowing exhale, she reached up and tried to grasp at the pure white flakes cascading towards her, like they were miniature promises of salvation. But from what?

Frowning now, Yuri let her fist fall back onto the fresh snow. Of course, she knew that there were some things she probably needed saving from. Herself, primarily. Despite how vehemently she would defend her views to others, she knew that her greatest enemy was her own head. If only she could simply condition herself to follow the beliefs of her peers, or at the very least hide her own divergent ones...

_Everything would be so much easier._

The shouting and crashing of the older exorcists was growing closer now, dangerously so, but Yuri couldn't bring herself to care. What good would running do? They would catch up to her eventually, she knew; but by that logic, why had she instigated this pursuit to begin with? If she had just stayed put and accepted Shiro's rebukes, her mentor wouldn't have been nearly as angry as he was right now, judging from the horrible curses the older man was currently throwing at her from higher up the slope. Exhaling heavily from her nostrils, Yuri pulled herself up into a sitting position, shivering now from her prolonged time laying down on the snow.

_Why do I make everything so complicated?_

_"You've left behind nothing but interference..." _Shura's voice murmured into her brain.

Shaking her head, Yuri stood up and began heading away from the hill again, although she now walked rather than ran. There was no point in prolonging this chase any further. Shoving her frozen hands into the depth of her coat, the young woman trudged through the line of bushes and stunted evergreens before and reached the bottom of the hill.

There was a lake there. A frozen lake, its flat surface glistening like a mirror meant to distort everything around it. Pushing limp evergreen limbs out of her face, Yuri stepped out of the line of plant life and began trotting through the snow, towards the banks of the solid water. The snow was really falling now, in thicker sheets, and the temperature itself was beginning to take a nose dive. Pulling her clothes tighter around her, Yuri reached the very edge of the banks and hoped that Shura was even colder than she was.

A clink of metal behind her.

"Don't move," The older woman's snarling voice hissed into her right ear, and Yuri felt the cold edge of Shura's demon sword pressing into the skin of her neck. Her veins there jumped at the realization, briefly thrown into a terror because she assumed that the exorcist was there to kill her. But that couldn't be true, she knew. Shura was a bitch, and an unreasonable one at that, but at the same time Yuri didn't believe her capable of meaningless murder.

Pursing her lips, the younger woman complied with the orders she was given. Meanwhile, the weather worsened to the point that she couldn't see the opposite bank of the lake anymore. "Are you going to kill me now, ma'am?" She asked mockingly.

Shura snorted and tapped the bottom of Yuri's jaw with her weapon. "No. Not worth the effort. I'm just making sure you stay put till Shiro gets here."

"No other reason?" Yuri responded, sounding almost bored. "My, who's going to motivate you to get anything done once he's gone?"

She couldn't see the higher exorcist behind her, but she could almost hear Shura's teeth grinding together as she gritted them. "Don't talk like you expect something bad to happen to him. And how can you treat your own mentor like that? Especially one like him...I honestly can't understand what he's thinking when it comes to you. Nothing good will ever come from teaching an underling who thinks like you do."

Yuri took the risk of shrugging, feeling her right shoulder push the flat side of the sword tighter against her flesh. "I don't know, either. Sometimes I feel like he keeps me around so he has someone to criticize."

_What am I doing?_ Yuri thought softly. _That isn't how I feel. Why did I say that?_

Shura inhaled sharply, and she felt the older woman readjust her grip on the demon sword. "How can you_ say_ that? You wouldn't be who you are if not for that man. But you do nothing but talk badly about him. Shiro is a good person. He only wants the best for everybody!" She continued to shout as her voice began to be drowned out by the rising storm. The winds were really screaming now. Yuri began to worry that the rest of the squad had gotten lost; it had been a while since she'd last heard their voices behind her.

"That may be true," Yuri replied softly, so softly that she thought perhaps Shura couldn't hear her. "But I still can't be who you all want me to be."

Shura swore under her breath and looked behind her, into the wall of trees ringing the lake. Where was Shiro. "It's not impossible. If you kicked your worthless behind into trying to accomplish something meaningful for once, you just might be able to walk through the Vatican without everyone whispering about you once you've left the room."

Yuri narrowed her eyes and dared to turn around, despite the blade's edge still held to her throat. She made eye contact and said, "You might think changing yourself is easy, but it isn't. Just look at yourself as an example. What are you going to do if Shiro is removed from your life? Live as a hermit and never again see the light of day? You're so ridiculously devoted to him that it makes me sick, and I'm not alone in that. The Grigori itself is worried about what'll happen once Fujimoto is rotting in his grave-"

"Shut up!" Shura screamed, pulling her sword towards her person. "Shiro's not even in his forties yet, you idiot!"

Yuri bared her teeth at the older woman's indignation as the wind whipped its way through their hair, throwing it up and about in the air. "Time isn't the only thing that can do an Arc Knight in. Demons, even Satan himself, are constantly trying to possess people as powerful as he is. You told me once that Shiro would be Paladin already if not for me. In that case, how long do you think he would have to live after he's appointed? The longest living person to hold that Paladin post is the current one, and he's only been instated for five years-"

She was cut off a second time when Shura darted forward and swept her long, thin legs out from under her, sending the younger exorcist crashing down to the ground. Swearing loudly, Yuri looked up and saw the serpent wielder crouching over her prone form and seizing her coat collar, yanking her head up towards hers.

"You've got to quit that bullshit attitude of yours," Shura snarled at her. "Or you're going to end up with nobody around you."

Yuri glared back. "It's already that way."

The older woman's face twisted hideously, put then a look of...something like pity crossed her face. It made Yuri angry beyond measure.

"If that's how you think," The high exorcist said softly, letting go of her collar and standing up, "Then that's how it'll always be."

* * *

People could only gather together against the unknown.

But why?

After all, not everything unknown could turn out to be malicious or detrimental to humanity; otherwise, advances in science and peace between peoples would never be possible. Who had engineered people to be adverse towards what they could not understand? God? Well no, she couldn't simply provide that as an answer. Not as a functional atheist, really. It had seemed to strange to her at first, but realizing that demons actually existed had only strengthened her belief that there was not divine being. But now she understood why. She didn't want someone to understand her.

Wasn't that what God was for, anyway? Understanding. A way to pull people together both in times of crisis and periods of peace. Also, a way for humanity to dump its wrongdoing on someone else's shoulders. Yuri understood very well that people found it difficult to blame themselves. So they pointed their fingers at the wrath, judgement, and will of God, or Eve's partaking of the fruit, or those who didn't share their beliefs. She had always thought that religion was really just a way for people to band together and feel a sense of belonging. Which wasn't something she could really blame them for, considering that she ached for that herself.

But why did they have to ridicule someone else to feel accepted?

Yuri sat slightly absentminded in a side chamber of the central building, such thoughts running through her head. People often told her that she had a bad tendency to think too deeply about things that didn't really matter. She always responded by saying that she would be the judge of what did and did not really matter to her. It drove other people mad when she said that, but it sent the message she needed to relay. Besides, nobody would listen properly to what she meant unless she threw a few lopsided insults in with it. Insults attracted attention.

It had been a little over twenty-four hours since her encounter with Shura, by the frozen lakeside. The older woman had chosen not to tell Shiro about their argument, who had arrived a few minutes after Yuri had been knocked down into the snow, and she herself had no intentions of inciting additional discipline. Her teacher had been horribly angry, shouting at her for a full two hours by the lakeside as the rest of the exorcists watched sympathetically from a distance. Shiro Fujimoto had garnered a great amount of respect within the Order despite having not reached middle age yet, but he was also known to be fearsome if his temper was tested.

After he had managed to blow off the steam he couldn't handle, the Arc Knight had then calmly gathered everyone up and led the way back to base. But it hadn't been a comfortable silence enveloping the group on the return trip; no, it was instead one of malice, regret, and hostility. And Yuri knew that she was one the one to blame.

Again.

The squad had since returned to the Vatican, having to report on the nature of their mission. Most of the exorcists had filed off to their own quarters to write up the said reports, so she had been left alone with Fujimoto. Yuri had wanted a short moment to somehow apologize for her latest mistake, but her teacher had simply cut her off and instructed her to wait in the side chamber. She only managed to get one question answered before the older man stalked off.

"Where are you going?" She'd asked hesitantly.

"To speak with the Grigori," Came the terse reply.

Those words had really struck her deeply. If Shiro was speaking with the Grigori, it could only be because he had been summoned. It was nigh impossible to request a personal meeting with the High Council. Not to mention that the time and context of the summons strongly suggested that the topic of their conversation would be her.

_I screwed up again,_ she thought in disgust as she pressed her soft cheek against the cool marble wall she leaned against. The side chamber was situated just beside the main hall which led into the chamber where the Grigori held their councils. Shiro had entered over half and hour ago, with no signs of returning anytime soon. Yuri just hoped the Grigori hadn't been scolding him this entire time; she wouldn't be able to bear that. It wasn't Shiro's fault that she was a failure, despite what she had said to Shura earlier.

"Shit," Yuri mumbled to herself, the curse somehow carrying more weight than it would have if she had shouted it inside the empty chamber. She was alone out here, after all. Maybe because the word was more directed at herself if she whispered it. No need to broadcast her incompetence.

_I don't want to be expelled,_ she suddenly realized. There had been times where she had entertained thoughts of defecting; after all, she had no real friends within the confines of the Vatican, and everyone either turned away or was persecuted for associating with her. She set off whispers in every room she visited. Officials, even the ones who hadn't met her before, seemed to know to keep a closer on her especially. There had even been some exaggerated rumors that she would be charged for heresy. Totally untrue, of course, but it just demonstrated the extent to which she had been figuratively excommunicated. The only person who had ever been able to make her feel at least somewhat accepted was Shiro, but if she really was about to be kicked out of the walls of the Vatican, she would lose that too.

She hated it, but Yuri felt a few small tears gathering together behind her eyelids. She had always hated crying, as well as anyone who was prone to doing it regularly. It was a sign of defeat. It showed that they had managed to get to you, whoever "they" may be. So she had always tried to avoid it. But now the tears were overflowing and spilling down her raw cheeks, her entire face having been over rubbed by the snowstorm she had just been in. She had been aware that the Fox Demon assignment was her last chance, but it hadn't really sunk in, apparently. Otherwise she might not have slipped up again.

_It's all my fault. Why do I always waste other peoples' efforts?_

Coughing slightly, she reached up to wipe the fluids away from her face, not wanting anyone to see.

"What are you crying for?"

Looking up, Yuri saw Shiro standing before the bench she was sitting on. Blinking a few times, she hurriedly dashed away the rest of her tears before regaining eye contact, somewhat concerned by the stern look on the man's face.

A period of silence manifested itself between them.

Youth was a mark of impatience. Yuri broke it first. "...how did it go?"

The lack of words re-engulfed them as Shiro stared hard at her, and a small seed of fear sprouted in her heart.

"I..." He began, being swallowing and deepening his frown.

"...am no longer your teacher."

Yuri's heart stopped. "...What?"

Shiro sighed and sat down on the bench beside her, lighting a cigarette. Against regulations, but neither of them cared at this point. "The Grigori has made its decision. I have been declared incapable of being your mentor, after being given several second chances. You have been assigned a new teacher, who will complete your early education as an exorcist. That is the final verdict." He paused for a moment before adding,

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry?" Yuri murmured to herself, in disbelief. Shiro glanced over at her. Yuri shook her head and drew her knees up to her chest, pulling her feet up off the floor. "It's my fault that this happened to you...and you're _sorry_?"

Unknown to his former pupil, Shiro wanted nothing more at the moment than to hold the young girl close and tell her that yes, he was indeed sorry, but the man restrained himself. Taking a draw from his cigarette, he closed his lighter and said levelly, "I must advise you to remain composed, Yuri. This was the best I could do. It was either this or expelling you. Do you want that to happen?"

Yuri shook her head. "No. But-"

"No buts," Shiro cut her off sternly. "We've both been given too many second chances at this, and now I've run out of them. You haven't, but I can now say with confidence that you're running your last one. Do you understand?"

After a long moment, she nodded her head in acceptance.

A look of regret washed over the older man's face then, and he reached over to pat his former student on the head. "Good. At the very least, you won't need to take the trouble to get to know your new mentor. You've been acquainted with her for quite some time."

Yuri lifted her head up and stared in disbelief. "You don't mean-"

"Shura Kirigakure is your new instructor," Shiro confirmed.

The girl paled. "No."

"Yes," Shiro countered easily.

Yuri groaned in agony and clutched at her head. "But she _hates_ me! And I hate her!"

The Arc Knight snorted and crossed his arms. "That isn't anyone else's fault but you two's. I can find no explanation for two people to hate each other for no reason, so you'll just have to start getting along with her."

"But...but..." Yuri mumbled, frantically searching for some sort of excuse. "She's still under the age requirement! It must still be a couple years until she can become an official mentor."

Shiro again shook his head. "No, Yuri. Shura is twenty-six years old."

Dead silence.

"..._WHAT?" _Yuri screeched, making her former teacher cringe. "She's only been your student for a few more years than me, so she couldn't be anything past twenty!"

Shiro held up a hand to silence her, then motioned that she should retake her seat. It then occurred to her that she had leapt up into a standing position in her outrage. Pursing her lips, Yuri sat back down before getting back to glaring at the older man, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

The exorcist took one look at the young girl and sighed. "This is always a pain to explain. Well, alright...when I first met Yuri six years ago, she was eight."

Yuri's jaw dropped.

"Let me finish!" Shiro snapped. "I was traveling at that time, for personal reasons, when I came across a shrine sight filled with ancient artifacts. A small girl was playing there, seemingly by herself, but she was possessed by a demon.

"It was a special kind of demon," He then elaborated. A powerful Shed Skin variant. It must have been dwelling beneath the shrine for quite a while, considering the energy it had accumulated over time. When the the young Shura stumbled across the artifacts and unearthed them, it attacked."

"Then what?"

"It started to destroy her," Shiro said simply. "A defining characteristic of a Shed Skin type demon is that it accelerates the aging process of anything it possesses. Similar to the way demon hosts burn up after prolonged use, except the rule applies to nonliving hosts as well, like statues. When it entered Shura's body, she physical state immediately began to deteriorate. By the time I crossed the courtyard and got to her, she already looked like a century-old woman."

Yuri cringed at the description. "But I'm assuming you managed to save her?"

"There wasn't enough to time to recite a Fatal Verse or cut the demon out forcefully. So I locked it inside her instead."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Locked?"

Shiro nodded gravely. "A very classified technique, mind you, so don't pry about that. But basically, I stopped the demon's progress within Shura's soul. Her body began to slowly return to its former state, but since I hadn't totally annihilated the demon, her physical state settled into the form of the body she currently has today."

Yuri, incredulous, pictured an eight year old Shura trying to adjust to a completely adult body and had to suppress a laugh.

Shiro noticed her amusement and smile himself. "Obviously, that served as her Temptaint. Normally, I would have removed the demon right afterwards, but it took a full week for me to get us both back to the Vatican, as I was traveling without Keys, and I didn't have the ability to exorcise her myself without possibly killing the host. By the time the healers got to her, though, her soul had developed a firm dependency on the Shed Skin demon to survive. It was declared that exorcising Shura was ultimately kill her. The Grigori wanted to kill her for essentially hosting a demon inside her, but I managed to convince them to let me mentor her. Luckily, she grew into a fine warrior."

Yuri somewhat disagreed with that final statement, but she said nothing of it. "So you're telling me...she's going to look that way forever?"

Shiro hummed his confirmation. "You've only known her for a short number of years, so you may not have noticed, but most exorcists within the Vatican are aware of her situation. Yes, her body will retain the same appearance until her dying day, which thanks to the demon dwelling inside her, may not come for another two hundred years."

"So that's how it is, huh..." Yuri said thoughtfully, staring down at the floor. Shura had often claimed that Shiro had been there to "save" her from a dark past, but she had always thought that was a fantasy the older woman had fabricated. But now those words rang rather true; Fujimoto had saved her life. Oddly enough, Yuri didn't know if she should feel thankful to her former teacher for that or not.

The older man sighed and stood up. "That is the person who has become your teacher, Yuri. I can't force you to like her, but at least take a couple things from your lessons, please?"

Yuri frowned before groaning and saying, "Alright, alright, I'll try my best."

Shiro finally grinned at her. "Just make sure that your best is enough."

* * *

A week later, Yuri was sitting in her private room when something outside the window caught her eye.

Shiro was trotting hastily across the courtyard outside, heavily pursued by what looked like a highly agitated Shura. She couldn't tell what they were talking about from her fifth floor window, but it was obvious that the flame-headed woman was yelling at her teacher about something. Something told Yuri that it was about her new student.

Finally, Shiro turned around and said something to Shura before trotting away. Shura stood standing still in shock for a few minutes before bolting back in the direction she had from. Assuming the drama to be over, Yuri went back to reading her book.

Her assumptions had been erroneous, it seemed, when Shura barged through her door without even knocking. Sitting up off her bed, Yuri backed up against the wall when the older woman advanced towards her, sticking a finger into her chest and hissing, "I don't want to be your teacher, and I hope you don't like it either. But apparently I don't have a _choice in the matter,_ so if you make my job more difficult than it has to be in _any manner whatsoever_ I will personally have you _burned_ at the _stake."_

Having said that, Shura stood up and swept out the door she had just knocked down, leaving a winded Yuri behind.

Shaking her head, the fledgling exorcist pushed a few stray strands of hair out of her face before thinking, _Fine warrior, Shiro? Really?_

* * *

**_Thanks so much for reading! If you have any feedback, please leave it in the reviews!_**

**_~Shrrg_**


End file.
